วันอาทิตย์ที่ 3 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2555

10. Berry Pomeroy Castle, Totness

Source
There are a number of legends associated with this 14th-century
castle, and it has a reputation of being haunted. It has 2 famous
female ghosts; the White Lady and the Blue Lady. According to legend
the White Lady is the spirit of Margaret Pomeroy, who starved to death
while imprisoned in the dungeons by her jealous sister. Apparently she
haunts the dark dungeons, and rises from St Margaret’s Tower to the
castle walls. The Blue Lady is not confined to specific areas and is
supposed to lure people into parts of the ruin. Apparently it’s a very
bad idea to follow her!

9. Dominican Hill, Baguio City, Philippines.

According to some people the ghosts of people who were killed during
the war haunt this place. Some say the patients who died here despite
having the hope to be alive turned into ghosts. Hearing the banging of
doors, windows, clattering of dishes and screaming voices during night
are reported by people.

8. Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland

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This magnificent castle is typically medieval, perched atop a rocky
crag, giving it an amazing vista of Scottish hills. But inside the
empty halls and narrow streets of Edinburgh, there are the
echoes of the dead. At least, that’s what has been reported. Hot
spots for specters include the castle’s prison cells, the South Bridge
vaults and Mary’s King Close, a disused street used to quarantine
and eventually entomb victims of the plague. There are also reports
of ghost dogs, a headless drummer, and the bodies of prisoners
taken during the French seven-year war and the American War of
Independence.

7. Monte Cristo, New South Wales, Australia

Source
Monte Cristo, Australia’s most haunted mansion is located in Junee,
New South Wales. Mrs Crawley, the owner of the house never came out of
her home after the death of her husband in 23 years of her remaining
life except for two times. After her death her ghost haunts the place
particularly her former room. Bodiless ghost, phantom face in the
window, floating apparition, strange and ghostly voices, automatic
turning on and off lights are some haunting experiences of the people.
Some people reported that when they entered the boy’s bed room they
were breathless and turned purple and almost died, they became normal
after coming out from the room.

6. Ancient Ram Inn, Gloucestershire, England

Source
Whether you believe in ghosts or not, a trip to the Ancient Ram Inn
is an unsettling experience. Its creaky floorboards, cold bare walls,
musty smells and dimly lit nooks and crannies epitomise everything a
haunted house should be. And the stories attached to this creepy
building are not for the fainthearted: Murder, satanism and child
sacrifice are just a few of the dark deeds said to have occurred here,
oh and did we mention apparently it’s built on a pagan burial ground?

5. Highgate Cemetery, North London, England

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By night, Highgate Cemetery is like something out of a horror movie.
Eerie crooked gravestones, headless angles covered in ivy, dark
overgrown passages between the tombs, it’s no wonder this is Britain’s
number-one ghost spot. Despite it’s chilling atmosphere, by day Highgate
Cemetery showcases some of the Britain’s most spectacular Gothic
architecture, offers fascinating guided tours. It’s also the burial
place of Karl Marx.

4. Bhangarh Fort, India

Bhangarh Fort is on way from Jaipur to Alwar in Rajasthan, India.
According to a legend, Singhia, a black magic tantrik cursed the palace
that everybody would die in the palace and their souls will stay there
for centuries without rebirth. Another interesting point is, all the
houses in this area are without roofs because whenever a house is built
with roof, the roof collapses. This is the called most haunting place
in India. People who visit this place experience anxiety and
restlessness. It is said that nobody returns from this place that stays
there after dark. Government prohibited this area from staying after
sunset. You will find a board installed by Archaeological Survey of
India displaying “Staying after sunset is strictly prohibited in this
area”.

3. Screaming Tunnel, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Source
The haunting of the Screaming Tunnel is one of Niagara Falls’ most
enduring legends. Located off Warner Road, the tunnel runs under the
railway tracks that link Niagara Falls to Toronto and New York City.
According to local legend, over a century ago, a farm house located
just past the south entrance to the tunnel caught fire one night. A
young girl, her clothes engulfed in flames, fled screaming from the
house. She ran through the tunnel in an attempt to extinguish her
garments but collapsed and died on the tunnel floor. A variation of
this story has the girl set ablaze in the tunnel by her enraged father
when he learned his wife had won custody of their children during an
nasty divorce battle. Another version tells of a young girl who was
raped inside the tunnel and her body burned to cover the evidence. All
these stories allege that if you stand in the middle of the dark tunnel
at midnight and light a match, the flame will go out and a girl’s
screams will be heard.

2. Ohio University, Athens, America

Source
Ohio University is known in state folklore as the most haunted
college campus. A large number of places on campus are said to be
haunted, and numerous other popular tales are told about the university
across Athens county. The British Society for Psychical Research claims
that Athens, Ohio, is one of the most haunted places in the world.
Wilson Hall, famous for a girl (a supposed witch)who killed herself
moments after writing satanic and supernatural things on the wall in her
own blood. The five cemetaries that form a pentagram that surrounds
the campus, with the administrative building being in the center of the
devil’s sign. Washington Hall, which is famous for housing a team of
basketball players who all died in a terrible crashm their ghosts still
haunt the hall, and you can sometimes hear them dribbling. The
catacombs of Jefferson Hall, where numerous ghost sightings have
occurred. And finally, for The Ridges, an abandoned insane asylum that
was known for thousands of labotamies and electro shock treatments.
Also, a patient who disappeared, and was found five weeks later, her
body decomposed onto the floor and left a stain that outlines her body.
This stain can still be seen today.

1. Changi Beach, Singapore

Source
Changi Beach served as a popular killing ground for the Japanese
during the Sook Ching massacre of The Second World War. Thousands of
Chinese were tortured and killed during this Operation as they were
suspected of being anti-Japanese. Strange crying and screaming are
reported by people. The heads of the Chinese dead bodies are sometimes
seen flying everywhere and headless bodies walk around the beach. The
scariest thing is that the ghosts leave blood stains. During nights
people observe dug holes that appear as if they were used for burying
bodies.

If you are looking to expand your film viewing into a strange
realm, here is a list of 10 movies that are a good primer for the
field!

Akira Kurasowa’s ‘Dreams’ is a very odd movie not only in the way
it’s shot, but the way it’s structured as well. I can’t really go into
much detail about the film as it’s very difficult to explain. However it
is worth watching for it’s visuals. Very beautiful to look at.

Jacob’s Ladder is the film equivalent of a mind-fuck. Honestly this
movie is terrifying and will really play with your head the whole way
through. Watch this movie alone late at night if you need to stay up.
Seriously, do yourself a favor and check this out. I first saw this when
I was my parent’s friend’s house. They were out talking while I was
watching TV and this movie came on. Needless to say it messed my little
brain up hahaha. But this movie holds up so well and is just as
frightening (if not more so) today

Charlie Kaufman always makes strange movies. That is not a surprise.
However, his directorial debut is one of the strangest of his catalogue
so far. A meditation on life and how you view the world and others and
what that can take on, this film is beautiful and challenging. This is a
movie that demands more than one viewing to really take it all in.

Tideland is to me a beautiful disaster. It was slammed by critics and
moviegoers alike. A story of a young girl who escapes into her own
fantasy world after her drug addicted parents die and she is left alone
in an old house in the middle of nowhere. I mean for ¾’s of the movie
Jeff Bridges is a rotting corpse in the house while the little girl
feeds him and dresses him up. I can totally understand why people hate
this movie, but for some reason I was captivated by it and I think it is
worth at least one viewing.

James Wood’s puts a vhs tape inside of his newly formed stomach-vag.
Do I need to say more? A classic body horror from Cronenberg, and an
ahead-of-it’s-time satire about media and its effects on the viewer.

From Alex Winter (from Bill and Ted films and The Idiot Box) made
what is in my opinion one of the most absurd and hilarious comedies ever
made. This movie is weird and is shamefully unseen by most people.
You’ll never look at a Styrofoam Cup the same again.

A Warning: If you are at all sensitive to the grotesque or have hang
ups about nudity/sex this is definitely not the movie for you. John Water’s seminal shock film. This movie still is shocking even by today’s
standards. This is not Hairspray. So I’ll posit this question: Can you
handle a butthole singing ‘Surfin’ Bird’? If you answered no, then stay
away from Pink Flamingos.

Gummo is a movie that I love and I hate. It’s filthy, disgusting,
brilliant, terrible. The first time I watched it, once the credits
rolled, I sat in silence for a long time, then I rewound the tape and
watched it again. This movie feels like it’s real and a nightmare. When I
used to work at a popular video store I used to recommend it to
teeny-boppers looking for a Friday night flick. Hope they enjoyed it.

It’s so hard to pick a weird Lynch film to recommend. But this is the
Lynch-pin (hardy har har). This movie is, make no mistake, a horror
film. Lynch’s use of sound and black and white, creates such a
horrifying vision of parenthood and relationships. The ‘baby’ in this
movie still freaks me out to this day.

As much as I love El Topo, I think The Holy Mountain is a better
movie. Like Jodorowsky’s other film’s this is steeped in religious
allegory and symbolism. And it is absolutely amazing. One of my all time
favorite movies and has the best twist ending ever.

Google is awesome. Yes, there have been questions raised about its new privacy policy and creepy Safari tracking
and frankly, it just knows way too much about everyone who has ever
created a Google account. But let’s put that aside for a moment and
focus on all its cool quirks, shall we?
They’re built into
practically every Google product — if you look hard enough, you’ll find
that entering the right search term or typing a code can make Google
collapse, spin or create fictional characters. Here are 15 easter eggs
(hidden, entertaining things developers build into a website or program)
for you to discover the next time you’re Googling.1. Walking to Mordor:
If you’ve ever watched The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (or just seen various versions of the meme)
you may never stop laughing at this Google Maps quirk (or maybe it’s
just me). If you try to get walking directions from “The Shire” or
“Rivendell” to “Mordor” (and ignore the suggestions that pop up), Google
will give you the route… and a warning. In other news, according to my
Google Maps, Mordor is located just outside Cape Town, South Africa.
Nice.2. Barrel roll:
Endlessly entertaining, this one trended
worldwide on Twitter in November. Simply search “do a barrel roll” — if
you have Google’s instant results functions enabled, your results page
will be spinning before you’ve completed the instruction.3. 42:
What is 42, you ask? Geez, it’s only the answer to life, the universe and everything. Ok, so if you’ve never read or watched The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, you won’t get this one. But Google’s built-in calculator will.4. Gravity:
If,
by any chance, you feeling like searching “Google gravity” and hitting
“I’m feeling lucky”, don’t be surprised if Google comes crashing down
around you the second you move the mouse.5. Recursion:
Google pokes fun at its own “did you mean” suggestions if you search recursion (repetition or returning) by questioning your spelling even though you didn’t make a mistake.6. Klingon:
So “GoogleDaq ylnej” means “Google search”. Hmmm. Who knew? Well, you, if you speak Klingon. Yes, there is a Klingon version of Google. There is also a pirate and Elmer Fudd version, if that’s more your thing.7. Kerning:
Designers
will love this one — kerning is the spacing between letters in a word.
When you do a search for kerning, Google changes the spaces between
letters in the word ‘kerning’ in all the results. Heehee. You see what
they did there?8. Hello, Nessy:
Picture
this: You’re working under a tight deadline, your clock is slowly
counting the minutes past 3AM and your coffee and Red Bull combo is
failing. The sleep deprivation is starting to affect you — you are
starting to see things. You click to your home page, and there, rising
gracefully from the dark waves in your iGoogle theme, is the Lochness
Monster.
No, you’re not hallucinating — you really did see Nessy.
If you are ever awake and online at 3:14 AM (those are the first three
digits in Pi, by the way. Gosh, those Google nerds), and have the
iGoogle beach theme installed, Nessy will come to visit for a minute. If
you’re not an insomniac, you can always just change the timezone on
your computer and in your iGoogle settings and just wait until 14
minutes past the hour (I was in Bangkok last night, as far as Google
knows).9. Nagging Rams:
Similar
to the ‘recursion’ response, if you search for ‘anagram’ (rearranging
the letters in a word to make a new word or phrase, in case you didn’t
know), Google rearranges the letters to suggest you were really
searching for ‘nag a ram’.10. Antarctic Penguins:
If you ever want to creep the Antarctic
on Google Maps, you may be surprised to find the little orange peg man
you drag and drop to change to Google Street View has transformed into a
fat little penguin. Awwww.11. Doodles:
What do you get if you don’t actually search for anything, and just hit ‘I’m feeling lucky’? A catalogue of all the Google doodles — all the way back to 1998. There were just three in that year — there have already been 69 in 2012.12. Konami ninja:
If you type in the Konami code
(a cheat code used in Konami games) in Google Reader, the side panel
will turn blue and a cute ninja will appear on the left of your screen.
Use your arrow keys and keyboard to enter the code — it’s up, up, down,
down, left, right, left, right, followed by the letters B and A.13. Street View team:
Ever
wanted to see the people who work at Google doing cool things like
Google Street View? Well, if you hop along to the back of the Google offices in Mountain View, you can see them all.14. Laundry:
There
are a lot of things Gmail can do for you — filter spam, flood you with
ads, apply a plethora of pretty coloured labels to your messages — but,
as yet, it can’t do your laundry. However, it is an option on the
‘suggest a feature’ page for Gmail.15. Pacman:
It started out as a Google doodle to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Pacman in 2010, but the Google Pacman game was so popular, it was given a permanent home.16. Zerg rush:
Google
“zerg rush” and prepare to defend your browser against hordes of the
letter ‘o’ in Google’s logo, which will start to destroy your search
results. They’re apparently undefeatable, but you can try to fight them
off by clicking on them and share your high score on Google +. For
those who aren’t familiar with StarCraft, a ‘zerg rush’ is a tactic where swarms of aliens known as ‘zergs’ descend in multitudes in order to overwhelm their enemies.17. You’ll never find Chuck Norris
Because
Chuck Norris jokes never get old, there is a warning hidden in Google
search results to ward off those who dare to attempt to find him. Just
search ‘find Chuck Norris’ and hit ‘I’m feeling lucky’ and you’ll see
what I mean.

วันเสาร์ที่ 2 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2555

Until recently, the idea of holding a
conversation with a computer seemed pure science fiction. If you asked a
computer to “open the pod bay doors”—well, that was only in movies.
But things are changing, and quickly. A growing number of people now
talk to their mobile smart phones, asking them to send e-mail and text
messages, search for directions, or find information on the Web.
“We’re at a transition point where voice and natural-language
understanding are suddenly at the forefront,” says Vlad Sejnoha, chief
technology officer of Nuance Communications, a company based in
Burlington, Massachusetts, that dominates the market for speech
recognition with its Dragon software and other products. “I think speech
recognition is really going to upend the current [computer] interface.”
Progress has come about thanks in part to steady progress in the
technologies needed to help machines understand human speech, including
machine learning and statistical data-mining techniques. Sophisticated voice technology is already commonplace in call centers, where it lets
users navigate through menus and helps identify irate customers who
should be handed off to a real customer service rep.
Now the rapid rise of powerful mobile devices is making voice interfaces even more useful and pervasive.Jim Glass, a senior research scientist at MIT who has been working on
speech interfaces since the 1980s, says today’s smart phones pack as
much processing power as the laboratory machines he worked with in the
’90s. Smart phones also have high-bandwidth data connections to the
cloud, where servers can do the heavy lifting involved with both voice
recognition and understanding spoken queries. “The combination of more
data and more computing power means you can do things today that you
just couldn’t do before,” says Glass. “You can use more sophisticated
statistical models.”
The most prominent example of a mobile voice interface is, of course,
Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant that comes built into the latest iPhone. But voice functionality is built into Android, the
Windows Phone platform, and most other mobile systems, as well as many
apps. While these interfaces still have considerable limitations (see
Social Intelligence), we are inching closer to machine interfaces we can
actually talk to.
Nuance is at the heart of the boom in voice technology. The company
was founded in 1992 as Visioneer and has acquired dozens of other voice
technology businesses. It now has more than 6,000 staff members at 35
locations around the world, and its revenues in the second quarter of
2012 were $390.3 million, a 22.4 percent increase over the same period
in 2011.
In recent years, Nuance has deftly applied its expertise in voice
recognition to the emerging market for speech interfaces. The company
supplies voice recognition technology to many other companies and is
widely believed to provide the speech component of Siri.
Speech is ideally suited to mobile computing, says Nuance’s CTO,
partly because users have their hands and eyes otherwise occupied—but
also because a single spoken command can accomplish tasks that would
normally require a multitude of swipes and presses. “Suddenly you have
this new building block, this new dimension that you can bring to the
problem,” says Sejnoha. “And I think we’re going to be designing the
basic modern device UI with that in mind.”
Inspired by the success of voice recognition software on mobile
phones, Nuance hopes to put its speech interfaces in many more places,
most notably the television and the automobile. Both are popular and
ripe for innovation.
To find a show on TV, or to schedule a DVR recording, viewers
currently have to navigate awkward menus using a remote that was never
designed for keying in text queries. Products that were supposed to make
finding a show easier, such as Google TV, have proved too complex for
people who just want to relax for an evening’s entertainment.
At Nuance’s research labs, Sejnoha demonstrated software called
Dragon TV running on a television in a mocked-up living room. When a
colleague said, “Dragon TV, find movies starring Meryl Streep,” the
interface instantly scanned through channel listings to select several
appropriate movies. A version of this technology is already in some
televisions sold by Samsung.Apple is widely rumored to be developing its own television, and it’s
speculated that Siri will be its controller. The idea has been fueled
by Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, in which the late CEO is
said to have claimed that he’d “finally solved” the TV interface.
Meanwhile, the Sync entertainment system in Ford automobiles already
uses Nuance’s technology to let drivers pull up directions, weather
information, and songs. About four million Ford cars on the road have
Sync with voice recognition. Last week, Nuance introduced software
called Dragon Drive that will let other car manufacturers add
voice-control features to vehicles.
Both these new contexts are challenging. One reason voice interfaces
have become popular on smart phones is that users speak directly into
the device’s microphone. To ensure that the system works well in
televisions and cars, where there is more background noise, the company
is experimenting with array microphones and noise-canceling technology.
Nuance makes a number of software development kits available to
anyone who wants to include voice recognition technology in an
application. Montrue Technologies, a company based in Ashland, Oregon,
used Nuance’s mobile medical SDK to develop an iPad app that lets
physicians dictate notes.
“It’s astonishingly accurate,” says Brian Phelps, CEO and cofounder
of Montrue and himself an ER doctor. “Speech has turned a corner; it’s
gotten to a point where we’re getting incredible accuracy right out of
the box.”
In turn, the kits shore up Nuance’s position, helping the company
improve its voice recognition and language processing algorithms by
sending ever more voice data through its servers. As MIT’s Glass says,
“there has been a long-time saying in the speech-recognition community:
‘There’s no data like more data’.” Nuance says it stores the data in an
anonymous format to protect privacy.
Sejnoha believes that within a few years, mobile voice interfaces
will be much more pervasive and powerful. “I should just be able to talk
to it without touching it,” he says. “It will constantly be listening
for trigger words, and will just do it—pop up a calendar, or ready a
text message, or a browser that’s navigated to where you want to go.”
Perhaps people will even speak to computers they wear, like the
photo-snapping eyeglasses in development at Google. Sources at Nuance
say they are actively planning how speech technology would have to be
architected to run on wearable computers.

[MIT Technology Review
is a Mashable publishing partner that identifies emerging technologies
and analyzes their impact for technology and business leaders. This
article is reprinted with the publisher's permission.]

If you’re thinking of a breed of dog to take care of, it is good to
have an idea about what its temperament is, its characteristic and what
makes it unique. To help you out, we will have a countdown of the top 10 most amazing dog breeds 2012 – ranging from the most dangerous, loyal, fascinating, popular and expensive breeds that you can buy.

Distinction: One of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world.

With their tall and compact bodies, dark color and alert ears, it is easy to see why the Doberman Pinscher as a dog breed is considered to be one of the most dangerous dog
breeds in the world. Simply referred to as Doberman, this canine breed originated from Germany.

Generally, a domesticated Doberman is loyal, intelligent and alert.
If you own this dog breed, they will be particularly loyal to you and
aggressive towards strangers. They also do not like rivalry with other
dogs.
What makes caring for a Doberman pinscher particularly dangerous is
when the owners lack guidance, subject them to abuse or if not enough
attention is given to them – upon which they can become destructive,
dominant and extremely aggressive.

Distinction: One of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world.

Another German breed of dog which is considered to be one of the most
dangerous in the world is the German Shepherd. Unlike the Dobermans,
this breed of canine does not have a particularly menacing look because
they have a long coat and a generally mild-looking face.

However, they are extremely intelligent, strong and obedient,
which is probably the reason why most police and military
establishments employ them as guard dogs. Another characteristic of the
German Shepherds which makes them particularly dangerous is their aggression towards smaller dog breeds.

Distinction: One of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world.

Did you know that Rottweiler is also known as Butcher dog?
This canine breed ranks third in our list of the most dangerous dog
breeds in the world. They are energetic, intelligent and hardy animals.
The thing which makes Rottweiler – and any dog breed for that matter – become dangerous is when they are subject to abuse and neglect.
They also become a hazard to the community if they do not have
sufficient training when it comes to mingling with humans or other
animals.
In addition, Rottweilers are aggressive towards other dogs of the same
sex. If you have cats and birds in the house, they might also exhibit
aggressive behavior towards them.

Distinction: One of the most expensive dog breeds in the world.

Next, we will take a look at a few of the most expensive dog breeds in the world. This ‘luxury’ dog breed has a price ranging from around $3,000 to $8,000.

What makes the Samoyed breed particularly expensive is the fact that
they are among the ancient dog breeds that have been around for the last
three centuries.
There are also a dwindling number of Samoyed dog breeders which is
another reason why an owner needs to pay an arm and a leg to call this
canine breed his or her best friend.

Distinction: One of the most expensive dog breeds in the world.

How would you feel about owning a dog breed which is also owned by the
British royals? In the United States in particular, English or British bulldogs are both expensive and popular. This breed of dog is also
favored by a lot of men who see the breed as being a symbol of masculinity and tenacity.

If you’re thinking about a breed of dog to buy and you are willing to
shell out the money for it, then you might as well go with one of the
most popular and expensive dog breeds in the world – the British or
English bulldog. A typical English bulldog puppy can cost you anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000.

Distinction: One of the most expensive dog breeds in the world.

To cap off our list of the most expensive dog breeds, there is the
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel which can cost anywhere from $800 to about
$3,500 for a puppy. What makes the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
expensive and special is that they are the ultimate definition of a man’s best friend.

When you look at their puppy-dog eyes, their rich coats and their
small, compact bodies, it is easy to see why anybody would want to spend
a significant amount of money just to be able to own a Cavalier King
Charles Spaniel puppy.

Distinction: One of the most popular dog breeds in the world.

Finally, we’ll move on to some of the most popular dog breeds in the
world. First, there’s the Labrador Retriever. They are among the world’s
most popular dog breeds according to the American Kennel Club because
of their friendly demeanor.

If you would like to purchase a dog breed which is great with kids and works as a great solo companion as well, then you can never go wrong by choosing to care for a Labrador Retriever.

Distinction: One of the most popular dog breeds in the worlds.

Golden Retrievers rank next to the Labrador Retriever as the most popular dog
breeds in the world. This cousin breed is almost synonymous with the
dog that almost every average American family has.
What’s so good about this breed of canine is that they are gentle by nature and their temperament is suitable for kids and all members of the family to play with.
Despite their large size, they do have a way with kids which make for
the perfect canine friend. Just make sure that you have enough room for
them to grow, because they can weigh as much as 90 pounds.

Distinction: One of the most popular dog breeds in the world.

Yorkshire Terrier dogs are small pooches which are also an ideal family
dog. Let’s say that you live in an apartment which allows pets – but
there isn’t much room for the dogs to move around. Naturally, you would
be selecting a breed which is small in nature – and the Yorkshire Terrier is perfect for such a setup.

Distinction: One of the most popular dog breeds in the world.

This dog breed with a unique name, Dachshund, is also known as wiener dogs. They do have a unique body shape and they are known for their playful and sometimes ferocious nature.
There are different kinds of Dachshunds that you can own – including
the long-haired, standard Dachshunds which has a calm demeanor, or the
wire-haired Dachshund which has a personality more like the terrier’s.

“Google is not a
conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” So began the
“letter from the founders” penned by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in the
company’s securities registration form in 2004. Despite ever-increasing
commercial success since that date, Brin and Page have kept to their
word.
Google is an unconventional company with a huge stake in our online
lives. It is a source of fascination for many, including us, but what
really happens in the Googleplex? And what cool factoids and stats exist
from the company’s relatively short past?
Here we bring you 10 fun facts about Google to quench our own thirst
for Google knowledge as well as hopefully offer you a distracting
diversion from your daily life.

1. The First Google Doodle

Google’s famous homepage “Doodles”
(the changing Google logo graphics) are well known and enjoyed by
millions around the world as a way to mark an event or anniversary. But
did you know that the very first Google Doodle was designed as a kind of
“out of office” message?
In 1998 Brin and Page took the weekend off to go the Burning Man
festival in Nevada. The Burning Man doodle (shown above), was designed
by the Google guys and added to the homepage to let their users know
they were out of office and couldn’t fix technical issues like a server
crash.

2. Interesting Figures from the Google IPO

While the initial price for Google’s stock at its Initial Public Offering in August 2004
is an interesting stat in itself, there’s more to the story. The
opening price for Google’s stock was $85 per share. At the time of
writing, the stock price was $483 but has soared as high as $600 in the
past year, making GOOG a rather nice investment for many.
A bonus factoid from Google’s IPO process is the value Google stated
it hoped to raise on its S-1 form — as much as $2,718,281,828. It may
just look like a string of numbers to non-mathletes, but 2,718,281,828
is actually the first ten digits of the mathematical constant ““e”,”
showing that even as their company was planning to go public, the Google guys could still geek out with a bit of numerical humor.

3. The First Google Storage Was Made From LEGO

As proud hosts to Google back when it was still a research project, and known as “BackRub,” here Stanford
now showcases the original Google storage from way back in 1996. It’s
made up of a whopping 40 GB (less than a modern iPod) and it’s made
from, as fans of the building bricks will be delighted to see, LEGO. It
even hash funny mini-figures on the top.
Legend has it that the reason for the LEGO construction was that the
Google guys needed an easily expandable, and cheap way to house 10 4 GB
hard drives, and LEGO fit the bill. Whether the primary colors of the
bricks used were the hues that went on to inspire the Google logo’s
design is up for debate, but we’d guess it wasn’t just a coincidence.

4. Google’s First Ever Tweet

Google’s first ever Twitter post
was as satisfyingly geeky as you could hope for. The message, sent in
February 2009, reads “I’m 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001
01101110 01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001
00001010.”
For anyone not fluent in binary, here’s a hint — it’s a well known
phrase from the company’s homepage. Got it? Yep, it reads: “I’m feeling
lucky.”

5. Google Rents Goats

This one isn’t actually one of Google’s infamous April Fools’ Day jokes: Google rents out goats. Yes you read that right. It rents goats from a company called California Grazing to help cut down the amount of weeds and brush at Google HQ.
The operation of 200 goats (plus herder and a border collie) is kind
to the environment, and as Google puts it: “A lot cuter to watch than
lawn mowers.”

6. Google’s Impact on Language

While you’d think the news that the Merriam-Webster
and Oxford English Dictionary adding “google” as a verb to their
lexicons in 2006 would thrill the search engine, Google was actually
none too pleased with the development.
“We’d like to make clear that you should please only use ‘Google’
when you’re actually referring to Google Inc. and our services,” the
company wrote in a blog post at the time.
The rationale behind the semantic displeasure was that Google had “a
brand to protect,” and feared Google would “slip from trademarked status
into common usage.” Now, four years later, we have to say Google was
fighting a losing battle — just ‘google it.’
However, we’ve found some other Google-themed linguistic delights for
you — a Google staffer is commonly referred to as a “Googler,” while a
new team member joins as a “Noogler.” Nooglers also used to wear a colorful hat
with a spinner on top. According to a former employee, those hats are
now pretty scarce in some offices, instead: “Every Noogler gets a yellow
smiley balloon and a nameplate.”

7. Google Is Dog-Friendly

Google is a super dog-friendly company. It proudly names “company dogs,” like Yoshka
(described as a “free-range Leonberger”) pictured above. Yoshka
accompanies Urs Holzle, senior VP operations and Google Fellow to the
Googleplex. Less senior staff are also allowed to bring their dogs to
the office.
According to Google’s “Dog Policy”, one indiscretion too many on the
Google carpets, or aggressive behavior, means Lassie will have to stay
at home in the future. Strong bladdered and friendly canines are more
than welcome across the campus.
Unfortunately, cats are not quite as welcome. Here’s an excerpt taken directly from Google’s Code of Conduct:
“Google’s affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our
corporate culture. We like cats, but we’re a dog company, so as a
general rule we feel cats visiting our offices would be fairly stressed
out.”

8. Google’s First Ever “Company Snack” Was Swedish Fish

Back in February, 1999, the chewy candy known as “Swedish Fish” became the first ever company snack (not counting beverages) that was ordered into the Google office.
Although a relatively small event, it has led to big things. Google
is infamous in the industry for treating its employees to not just free
drinks and snacks on tap, but full-on gourmet meals, three times a day
at a plethora of on-site cafes and eateries, as well as regular BBQs
during the summer.
Brin and Page have been quoted in the past as saying no Googler
should have to go more than 100 feet for food, leading to snack-filled
“microkitchens” that are liberally dotted around the Google offices.
In fact, the free food is said to be so tempting that Googlers risk
the “Google 15,” similar to the “Freshman 15,” where they pile on weight
soon after joining the company. Good thing they also have a Google gym.
Backing this up, here’s a stat from Google — “Bay Area Googlers
consumed approximately 5,500 pounds of handmade chocolates from the
snack bins in the microkitchens in 2007.” Wow.

9. The Google Logo Was Not Centered Until 2001

Google’s famously sparse homepage is considered a classic design in
the online world. The Google logo, however, wasn’t actually centered on
the page until March 31, 2001. As early users will remember, the
homepage had a bias to the left-hand side, and even earlier — back in
1998 — Google sported a Yahoo-style exclamation mark.

10. Google Has a Company Dinosaur

By all accounts, there are many wondrous sights to be seen at the Googleplex, but one of the most arresting is surely the gigantic T-Rex skeleton — nicknamed “Stan” after a “real” dino found nearby — that
looms menacingly at Googlers in Mountain View.
Joining Stan in the unique campus decorations is a scale replica of the SpaceShipOne,
enormous Android-themed models, pink flamingos, a large LEGO man,
Google-colored phone boxes and grown-up size ball pits. One thing seems
for sure — just like the company itself — life at the Googleplex must be
far from dull.